Canadian immigration

[Quintillus]

Have you heard the phrase "slow as molasses in January"? It's a good phrase to apply to how fast the bureaucracy works. You might get lucky enough to deal with efficient people, but should have a Plan B in case you get stuck with the inefficient people.

I have no idea how easy or hard it is to find jobs in Vancouver, but housing is insanely expensive there. If you got a job in Vancouver itself, it would likely be best to find a place to live in one of the surrounding smaller centres.

Hmm, interesting. Well, I'm in a fairly good position as is, so an easy Plan B would be to stick with my current job, or just to look southwards to Seattle, which of those four cities is probably the one I'd be most likely to move to as I know the most people there.

From what I've heard there are lots of jobs in my industry in Vancouver, but I'd also heard that the housing was ridiculously pricey, higher than Seattle and perhaps higher than San Francisco as well. That would definitely factor into a decision with any of those cities (though to a lesser degree Portland), as if I took a job with, say, a 10% raise, I'd be in effect taking a significant pay cut due to the much higher costs of housing, and living in general (and that's not even looking at any potential tax differences). And if I'm going to move 2000 miles, I would want it to make economic sense to do so. West Coast salaries do tend to be a lot higher than Midwest ones too though, so it's possible that it may make sense. But I'll certainly be crunching the numbers on that with an offer from any West Coast company.

I've read that some Vancouver tech companies are advertising in Silicon Valley, trying to convince startups to move to British Columbia due to easier immigration laws for workers. Which makes me think that it probably is no more difficult than H1-B visas in the U.S. There certainly is a backlog of demand for H1-B's, though, so "easier than H1-B" does not necessarily mean quick.

How is 'Fwench' bad manners?

You aren't serious, are you? I see the smiley face, but I also know enough about French culture to know that you could certainly cause offence with that.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

How is 'Fwench' bad manners?

Because it isn't what the language is called. Don't make the mistake of thinking that French is only used in Quebec.

 

[CavLancer]

If someone said Amwerican I certainly would not be offended. Protected under something or other.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

That's you. But the OP started this thread in good faith, and it would be nice to follow the recommendations upthread and show some respect, instead of mockery.

As for the "protection" you mention... please re-read my post where I remind people that the U.S. constitutional amendments don't apply in Canada.

 

[CavLancer]

Okay, okay, I won't say 'Fwench' anymore. Actually I life the country very much, and would love someday to go to Pawis.

Maybe I have a speech impediment...

Anyway we should likely get back on topic, yes?

 

[emzie]

Hi. I'm an American who moved to Canada. I can't recall it ever mattering.

 

[shadowplay]

 

[Cutlass]

Odd thing about talking about how hard it is to move to Canada, Canada is about 3x more open to immigration than the US is.

 

[tetley]

If they don't mind waiting the years it takes to go through the process, and are eligible, and are skilled workers, then come on in.

Skilled Americans can apply under NAFTA as a temporary foreign worker right at the border. You can get issued a work permit right on the spot. Even be eligible for OHIP the day you start work. I think IT and high-tech jobs are not subject to an LMO, either, but that might have changed recently.

It's one question-mark of what will happen to NAFTA under Trump.

 

[emzie]

Skilled Americans can apply under NAFTA as a temporary foreign worker right at the border. You can get issued a work permit right on the spot. Even be eligible for OHIP the day you start work. I think IT and high-tech jobs are not subject to an LMO, either, but that might have changed recently.

It's one question-mark of what will happen to NAFTA under Trump.

Those visas require an existing job offer.

 

[tetley]

Sure, which is a valid and good procedure to emigrate to Canada. Get the job, get the employer to sponsor you in.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Skilled Americans can apply under NAFTA as a temporary foreign worker right at the border. You can get issued a work permit right on the spot. Even be eligible for OHIP the day you start work. I think IT and high-tech jobs are not subject to an LMO, either, but that might have changed recently.

It's one question-mark of what will happen to NAFTA under Trump.

One thing to be aware of: "Temporary Foreign Worker", aka TFW, has become a four-letter word in some areas and occupations here. They're necessary in some ways, but there are also plenty of accounts of abuse, both of people brought in and of Canadian workers who were fired or basically prodded into quitting so the employer could take advantage of subsidies - and therefore not have to pay as much.

Of course it does depend on which country the TFW comes from and what jobs they work in.

 

[tetley]

When we were white watering in Jasper, the river guides were all Australian. Skilled TFW's I would expect, but--RIVER GUIDES?!??

 

[Valka D'Ur]

When we were white watering in Jasper, the river guides were all Australian. Skilled TFW's I would expect, but--RIVER GUIDES?!??

I wonder where they were living. I'm not sure about Jasper, but in Banff it's a catch-22 of needing people, but there's a limit on where they're allowed to live. I couldn't just decide to move to Banff, for instance, unless I owned a business there or could find a room to rent from someone who has managed to acquire a house. Since these are environmentally sensitive places, there's a limit on building new residential properties.

The national parks are extremely expensive places for most of us, unless we're just passing through. It's been over 10 years since I was last in Banff, and if I hadn't been along for the ride with a friend who has a courier job (her route is Calgary-Canmore-Banff), I couldn't have gone. After her deliveries were done, we went up to Lake Minnewanka to walk around a bit - first time I was ever there in spring and there was still some snow around. People were getting in a last bit of skiing at Mt. Norquay, and Lake Minnewanka was still mostly frozen. The air was a little chilly, but it was so wonderfully relaxing... this was in May.

 

[tetley]

The jobs in Jasper seemed to all come with board. Seems like you can always just live in Canmore until your doors open into Banff. But in Jasper, not so much.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

The jobs in Jasper seemed to all come with board. Seems like you can always just live in Canmore until your doors open into Banff. But in Jasper, not so much.

It's been a really long time since I was last in Jasper, maybe 35 years? I honestly don't remember. It was a holiday with my mom, aunt, uncle, and cousins to eventually visit another aunt in Prince George, B.C.

It's not exactly flat here, but I do love being in the mountains. In a different reality, I'd be living in B.C.

 

[tetley]

Golden doesn't have any of those national park problems.

 

[Acken]

I don't think there's any issue in the English part of Canada. Unless you're an idiot that immigrate and want things to be done the American way I guess.

In Quebec, you'll be just another Anglais who will be frowned upon when you can't speak French.

 

[Vectors]

I could use some input from Canadians.

Canada has lots of immigrants, but not as many from the U.S. as one might think, considering they're neighboring countries.
1). How do you feel about U.S. immigrants?
2). How do you feel about more of them coming because of Trump?
3). If the U.S. started aggressively expelling "illegal" immigrants, Syrian refugees and Muslims (because of Trump) out of the U.S., would that make you oppose Americans emmigrating to Canada?
4). How about if Trump started trying to repeal NAFTA?
5). How do you feel about Americans who want to eschew their U.S. citizenship and want to start pursuing full Canadian citizenship?
6). What are your views on Canadians going to Florida for the winter now?
7). Would any of your views change if we somehow vetted these Americans, to make sure they are contributing to the system (and not a liability on it), filing their T1, and all that? And if we make sure Americans understand this is YOUR country--not theirs?
8). Americans are used to driving faster, and they don't understand kph. Until they get used to it, how much will that bother you?
9). If they root for their American NBA team against the Raptors, could you ever forgive them for that?

I ask because these Americans are FLEEING all the things you might hate about the U.S.. They didn't vote for Trump, they don't want guns, they never agreed with the U.S. crackdown on immigration (and they sure as heck don't now, now that they themselves are trying to immigrate).

Thanks!

I am a US Canadian dual citizen who grew up in the US and now lives in Canada so take it with a grain of salt.
1) I feel that Americans, the British and the French are the closest culturally to Canada and so if we wanted to increase immigration those would be the people who we should pull in.
2) We should take in the best and make Canada Big League.
3) We would need to vet them for Canadian values
4) Trump can unilaterally repeal NAFTA, but he can't do so for the prior US CAN treaty that preceded it and he also can't change the tariffs.
5) FATCA is evil
6) I don't care about snowbirds
7) Canadians are pretty chill about Americans moving to Canada
8) Go Dubs!

Canada says I can go 100. It doesn't specify units. So any 100 is fine.

If I want to convert, the GPS tells me what the conversion is right next to what I'm actually doing.

Funny, there was an All State Canada ad about an American interpreting the 100 signs as MPH with ensuing problems

We created the United States. It's not our fault that conservatives have hijacked it.

Maybe you should have turned out the vote better.

There are literally tens of millions of white people in Mexico. What, did you imagine Spanish was a dialect of Mayan?

The white upper class of Mexico is very oppressed.

While I know it does take a long time for the entire process (including permanent residency and citizenship), does it really take years to immigrate on a temporary basis, such as through the Express Entry program? This would be assuming having a relevant background to qualify for the Federal Skilled Workers Program, in Skill Level A, and finding a relevant job offer.

Being in the technology industry, I've pondered the idea of moving west to one of San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, or Vancouver for a few years now, but the Vancouver option has always been a "I'm sure I could figure out the immigration paperwork if I got a job offer there" type of thing, and I'm not entirely clear how much more difficult that would make taking a job in Vancouver over a similar job in Seattle.

Better get a ticket to outer space to get to the Vancouver housing prices.

One thing to be aware of: "Temporary Foreign Worker", aka TFW, has become a four-letter word in some areas and occupations here. They're necessary in some ways, but there are also plenty of accounts of abuse, both of people brought in and of Canadian workers who were fired or basically prodded into quitting so the employer could take advantage of subsidies - and therefore not have to pay as much.

Of course it does depend on which country the TFW comes from and what jobs they work in.

The TFW hate is probably more towards people from the Third World as Americans demand comparable wages.

 

[Evie]

In general, in my experiences, Americans, particularly New Englanders (and double-particularly Vermonters) tend to be far more sympathetic to the Francophone nature of Quebec than a lot of Canadians, particularly Ontarians-west-of-Ottawa. IE, even if they don't know the language they tend to make an effort to use a little french.

Really, I think the Bruins jerseys may be a bigger problem for Bostonians than the language barrier